The Local Maternity System for Southampton, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Portsmouth is working to improve outcomes for mother and baby in line with the national Better Births report recommendations (2016).

Seven priorities from the report aim to drive improvement to ensure women across the UK receive excellent care that is more personal and family friendly.

Wessex Voices (a collaboration between local Healthwatch organisations and NHS England) have been asked to carry out this survey to understand experiences of using maternity services. We are working with local maternity services to gather feedback that will help us better understand how services can be improved to ensure women have an informed and empowered choice through their pregnancy and birth. We asked to hear from women and birthing partners who have had a baby in the last 12 months (we were also seeking feedback about the first 10 days after birth). The feedback will be used to inform future decisions about maternity services. As part of this project we also visited health visitor drop-in sessions throughout Summer 2017 to talk face-to-face with women and birthing partners to gather more insight into their experiences.

The report and recommendations have been shared with the Local Maternity System (LMS) Steering Group. Their response to the report can be found in the links below.

Our full report is now available below. If you would like further information or would like to share any other aspects of your experiences with us, then please get in touch.

Maternity Matters

Click here to read the full report and recommendations that have now been shared with the Local Maternity System (LMS) Steering Group. Their full response will be published here in February 2018. Read more